The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of ground cover rose plant which originated from a controlled crossing during summer of 1986 between an unnamed seedling and Dorus Rijkers. The two parents were crossed and the resulting seeds were planted in a controlled environment. The new variety is named xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99.
The new rose may be distinguished from its seed parent, an unnamed seedling, by the following combination of characteristics:
1. The seed parent is a low growing, spreading variety and xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 is a shrub rose.
2. The seed parent has small, single pink flowers with 5-8 petals and the and xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 has larger, double pink flowers with 20-25 petals.
3. The seed parent has small foliage, whereas xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 has small to medium foliage.
The new variety may be distinguished from its pollen parent, Dorus Rijkers, by the following combination of characteristics:
1. The pollen parent is a pink floribunda rose, while xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 is a shrub rose.
The objective of the hybridization of this rose variety for nursery and landscape use was to create a new and distinct variety with unique qualities, such as:
1. A garden rose plant with abundant, double, pink flowers;
2. Extended period of bloom;
3. Good growth as a traditionally budded plant as well as on its own roots;
4. Glossy thick foliage with excellent disease resistance.
This combination of qualities is not present in previously available commercial cultivars of this type and distinguish xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 from all other varieties of which we are aware.
As part of their rose development program, L. Pernille Olesen and Mogens N. Olesen germinated the seeds from the aforementioned hybridization and conducted evaluations on the resulting seedlings in a controlled environment in Fredensborg, Denmark.
xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 was selected by the inventors in the spring of 1987 as a single plant from the progeny of the aforementioned hybridization. Asexual reproduction of xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 by cuttings and traditional budding was first done by L. Pernille and Mogens N. Olesen in their nursery in Fredensborg, Denmark in August, 1992. This initial and other subsequent propagations conducted in controlled environments have demonstrated that the characteristics of xe2x80x98POULrijkxe2x80x99 are true to type and are transmitted from one generation to the next.